![]() ![]() Having created an unusually dependent god, Agustini suddenly commands the muse to seal the fountain of gold: « Selle, mi musa, el surtidor de oro / la taza rosa de tu boca en besos». ![]() The life-providing veins which create his growth underline his total dependence on her and also suggest that this love may result in a draining of her strength. In a striking metaphor, the « culebras azules» of his veins derive their sustenance from her brain. While he has creative abilities, it is she who has created him and who now nourishes him: « Las culebras azules de sus venas / se nutren de milagro en mi cerebro.». The vital essence for the « dios nuevo» comes from within, making her the creator of a creator. Que sangre y alma se me va en los sueños He is a mysterious, eternal being, sculpted « en prodigios de almas y de cuerpos», and the inspiration for him is almost certainly taken from Agustini's reading of Nietzsche: She commands her to vibrate the golden fountain: « Vibre, mi musa, el surtidor de oro / la taza rosa de tu boca en besos», because in doing so the ideal lover will spring forth. This unusual reading of classical mythology (overlooked by earlier critics) has played an important role in her formation as a poet and may be demonstrated especially well in her characteristic use of the muse.Ī good example of such usage occurs in the first line of the puzzling poem, « El surtidor de oro» (48-49), from Los cálices vacíos (1913), when Agustini addresses as though she were her personal servant. Absorbing the myths she read as a child and developing them in later years into a kind of personal storehouse of fantasies, Agustini recreates them again in her poetry from a personal perspective as if they were tales about herself. ![]() In addition to embroidery, art and music, she read poetry, fables and myths (Álvarez 8-11). At the same time, paradoxically, much of the artistic and intellectual focus of her tutorial education was typical of that normally taught well-to-do young women at the turn of the century. With her treatment of these topics, she was one of the earliest Spanish American poets to deal with two of the twentieth century's major themes. This connection with Apollo runs even deeper the Oracle of Delphi, the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo, lived on Mount Parnassus.The poetry of Delmira Agustini, a twentieth century Uruguayan poet (1886-1914), has been discussed frequently because of some of the unusually polemical themes she espoused, including feminine eroticism (Lima, Sergio Visca) as well as the concept of a Nietzschean super race (Rosenbaum, Gómez Gil). Apollo gave him a golden lyre and taught him to play, leading to Orpheus's later mythical exploits. In most accounts, he is the son of Calliope and Apollo, often considered the leader of the Muses. Orpheus, the great poet and lyrist, was raised on Mount Parnassus. The mountain, unsurprisingly, comes up often in Greek mythology. Polyhymnia was the muse of sacred poetry. The Muses that live on their sacred mountain are always the same nine, however:Įrato was the muse of lyric poetry and love poetry. But the honor is usually given to Parnassus. In Hesiod's account, the Muses lived on another mountain, Mount Helicon. The main Greek gods lived on Mount Olympus, but the Muses were said to live on Mount Parnassus, another large mountain in Greece. Many poets also wrote hymns and odes dedicated to the muses, like Hesiod's Theogony. Homer's Iliad begins with such an invocation ("Sing, Goddess, the rage of Peleus's son Achilles." in Lattimore's translation) as does the Odyssey. In Greek poetry, it was customary to invoke the muses at the start of an epic poem. Memory was important for the Muses because in ancient times, when writing was uncommon, poets had to carry their work in their memories. In the most popular account, they were the daughters of Zeus, lord of all gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Nine Muses were Ancient Greek goddesses (or nymphs) who ruled over the arts and sciences and offered inspiration in those subjects. Infoplease Staff The Goddesses of Inspiration ![]()
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